Description
Diana Mary Fluck better known by her stage name of Diana Dors (23 October 1931 – 4 May 1984) was photographed in Italy during the filming of La Ragazza Del Palio (1958). According to IMDb the plot is about a Texan girl who wins a quiz show jackpot and uses her winnings for a trip to Italy. Her car breaks down near Siena where she meets a handsome Italian prince. He thinks that she must be rich, and she too believes he’s loaded with cash, but they’re both broke. The romance reaches its climax at the traditional Palio horse race where, after breaking up with the prince after learning that he bribed the rival jockey into throwing the race so that his horse could win, she fast-talks the rival horse’s owner into letting her ride. photograph by George Douglas.
Who Was George Douglas
Born in 1922 in Rottingdean, a seaside village just outside Brighton but his father was American and the family moved to the States in the 1930s, first to Texas and then to Santa Monica, California.
Santa Monica, guaranteed sunshine apart, was not that different to Brighton. George bought a battered old Leica camera from a pawnshop for a few dollars, and patrolled the seafront, capturing the locals doing their thing.
His work began appearing in magazines like Life and other publications all over America but he wasn’t content. What he admired was the daring style of the ground-breaking British magazine Picture Post, which was setting new standards in photojournalism.
In 1951 he travelled to London by ship, busked his way into the Picture Post office the day after he arrived and managed to sell them a feature. Two days later he sold them another. George and Picture Post were made for each other. He sold them 99 stories in three years – serious features, silly celebrity stunts, beautiful reportage on the lives of everyday working people in England and always, whenever possible, beautiful girls.
The commissions rolled in as he met and photographed a myriad of celebrities and chased stories all over the world.
Then, when he was still only 48, he decided to give it all up, shrugging off the decision with: ‘Press photography is a young man’s job.’
